The Life of a Nomad: Experience the Unexpected

This Thanksgiving was characterized by the happy arrival of three of our closest friends: Cup, Bryan, and Theresa.

The 5 of us spent the better part of a week bonding and taking a grand tour of the Front Range. (For those of you flatlanders, the Front Range is the part of Colorado that is geographically located east of the Rocky Mountains. However, to be in the front range you need to be somewhere between 30 and 60 minutes from the mountains. I think.) Needless to say, the week was full of a vast number of amusing incidents. As I do not have either the time or desire to relate all of the stories, the following will have to do.

Natalie and I have one car. We like having one car. Most of the time, having one card is not inconvenient. This was not one of those times.

As I was saying, Natalie and I have one car and on Thanksgiving morning, Natalie needed to be at work at 4:00 am. Usually, when Natalie needs to go to work at a time best left unexperienced, I roll over and go back to sleep. Thanksgiving morning represented a bit of a problem though. The problem was that Cup was arriving at the Denver airport (about 60 minutes from our apartment) at 7:25 am. What this meant was that Bryan, Theresa, and myself ended up taking Natalie to work and hanging out at Starbucks until about 6:15 am.

Bryan and Theresa did not need to come with me to the Bucks or to pick up Cup. They more or less volunteered to put themselves through this less than desirable experience. For that I commend them.

Now I feel the need to highlight the fact that Starbucks is in no way the place where I wanted to be at 4:00 am. On Thanksgiving morning.

Being resourceful, Bryan, Theresa, and myself attempted to make the best of the situation. Planning ahead, we brought Settlers of Catan. Now I enjoy a good game of Settlers the same as the next guy, but 4:00 am is a little early even by my standards. The upside to all of this was that if you are forced to be anywhere at 4:00 am, you could find yourself at worse places then a coffee shop. I mean seriously, they are America’s Favorite drug dealers. I personally feel that each Starbucks Employee should wear a shirt that proudly declares the reality of their existence. Caffeine Dealer. A visible tattoo would be even better.

I digress.

All in all, kicking it at the Bucks was not that bad. Natalie’s Assistant Manger took pity on us and kept us very well caffeinated and, as it turns out, Settlers is a good time even in the wee hours of the morning. Who would have thought?

Bryan, Theresa, and myself left Starbucks at 6:15 am and made the journey to pick up Cup. This was of course excellent. On the way back to the apartment we picked up Natalie and proceeded with our Thanksgiving.

A good time was had by all….but we were a bit sleepy.